Pencil-clasp



(No Model.)

E. W. MILDRUM.

PENCIL CLASP.

No. 482,409. Patented Sept. 13, 18 92.

WiZ nesses figwazz IINHED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERNEST W'. MILDRUM, OF BERLIN, ASSIGN OR OF ONE-HALF TO YVILLIAM H. HONISS, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

PENCIL-CLASP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 482.409, dated September 13,1892.

Application filed February 13, 1892. Serial No. flZlA56. (N0 modeL) To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, ERNEST IV. MILDRUM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Berlin, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Pencil-Clasps, of which the following description and claims constitute the specification, and which is illustrated by the accompanying sheet of drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple, eflicient, and inexpensive meansof attaching a pencil, pen, or a marking or cutting tool to a pair of compasses or trammels or to any other instrument for which such an attachment is desirable and applicable; and it consists, preferably, of a piece of sheet metal having two or more slits which allow the alternate strips of metal at their sides to be bent in opposite directions. The slits do not extend to the edges, and thereby allow the strips to remain connected at their ends in an integral piece. The alternate strips or members are bent in opposite directions in substantially the form of a figure 8 in such a way that each lobe of the 8 is adapted to clasp one of the objects to be attached together, and is tightened upon them both by having one of those objects slightly tapering or wedge-shaped and by forcing that tapering or wedge-shaped object firmly into its seat in the clasp.

Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings are an end, a side, and an edge View, respectively, of my invention as used in attaching a lead-pencil to an ordinary pair of compasses. Figs. at, 5, 6, 7, and 8 are side and edge views representing one of these clasps in the different stages of its manufacture. Fig. 9 is a side View of a modification of this invention and shows a blank having a larger number of slits therein, which may be desirable under some circumstances. Figs. 10 and 11 are a side and an edge view, respectively, of another modification of this invention, formed of wire and interlaced in such a way as to accomplish substantially the same result as is accomplished by the sheet-metal forms.

The numeral 1 in the several views inclicates the piece of metal of which the clasp is made and which has the slits 2 and 3. Those slits may be made by simply shearing the metal along the lines 2 and 3, as in Fig. I, or portions of the metal may be punched out, forming slots, as shown in Figs. 2, 5, and 7,

the latter method being preferred. The alter- 5 5 The dotted lines in Figs. 7 and 8 represent the original length of the blank and exhibit the amount of shortening caused by bending the members of the clasp into the form shown in those figures.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 3, it will be observed that the member of the clasp which passes over the pencil also passes under the compass-leg, and vice versa, thus interlacing them in such a way that when the compass-leg is forced into its place 5 in the clasp it operates to tighten firmly the grip of the clasp upon both the leg and the pencil. The same tightening effect will be secured by making the pencil tapering and forcing it into its place 4: in the clasp.

It is obvious that the clasp may be adapted to the holding of other than cylindrical objects, such as those which are angular or in regular in cross-section; also, that it may be made in any desired size or length or may have So any desired number of clasping strips or members without departing from the spirit and substance of this invention.

In order that I may manufacture this clasp from thin metal for lightness and economy and in order that it may yet be stilf and strong, I propose to form corrugations transversely across the clasp at the ends of the slots thereof. It will then more easily resist the bending stress due to the wedging action 2. A pencil-clasp having substantially the into its seat in the clasp, all substantially as form of a figure '8, adapted to encircle and described. interlace a pencil and a compass-leg in its re- E. V. MILDRUM. spectlve openings correspondlng to those 1n 5 that figure, whereby the clasp is tightened \Vitnesses:

upon both the pencil and the compass-leg H. J. HILL,

when one of them is tapering and is forced WV. H. HONISS. 

